MEALS & MILES: Gateway to Tawang

Mountains: Problem only when bigger than you, Tale to Tawang

One fine day, after getting bored of our desk jobs, Kunal, Abhishek and I were trying to find escape routes to the mountains. After a hell lot of research for unexplored places, we landed to a conclusion that we are going to the north-eastern part of India. Meghalaya, Sikkim and few other places were in our mind but suddenly Kunal came up with a place called Tawang. Frankly speaking, never heard of this place before, not even knew where it is on the map of India. So, thanks to the power of Google and our perseverance we came to know a lot about this place and bang, we were game for Tawang.

Destination sorted, now the big task lying ahead of us was how to plan it. Proper planning is the most important part when you are going to unknown place. Google came to rescue again. Option one was to get a chopper from Guwahati to Tawang. There are chopper services for Tawang from Guwahati, but the problem is their availability and timings. We got in touch with one of the official, but he was not sure if he will be able to arrange one. Lots of another website and posts suggested that it depends on a lot of weather and other factors. So, the chopper was out. Now the second option, by road. Oh yes!! Road trip from Guwahati to Tawang. As per google, 445 KMs and the estimated time is around 12 hours. What! Seriously. At first, we were like it is an utter bullshit calculation. But the reality will hit you once you reach Arunachal Pradesh Border.

We decided to ask few tour operators regarding this. All were like it will take 2 days to reach Tawang. Several phone calls and discussions later, we concluded that 2 days it is then. We got a good itinerary from one of the tour operators. You require an inner line permit to visit Arunachal Pradesh. So, we emailed documents and details to the tour operator. All Sorted. The itinerary was:

Guwahati --> Bomdila --> Tawang --> Dirang --> Bhalukpong --> Guwahati

Enroute to Dirang

24th May 2016:

I started my journey from Delhi. Kunal and Abhishek from Kolkata. We reached Guwahati at around 9 AM. Innova and our driver cum guide Prashant bhai was waiting for us outside the airport. After making initial payments, we began our journey to Bomdila. It’s such a pleasure to have a guide and driver like Prashant bhai. He was awesome in every sense. He knew the places very well and what driving skills man. Highly recommended. We crossed Tezpur and after some time we were at the border of Arunachal Pradesh and Guwahati. Your inner line permit gets checked and verified here by the Indian Army. After few friendly conversations and explanations of Dos and Don’ts, we entered Arunachal Pradesh. Just after crossing the border we took our first major stop for lunch at Bhalukpong. Homemade food is always a winner that too cooked by locals. Time to move to our first halt at Bomdila.

What scenic views, you cannot capture those in even best of the camera. For that, you must go on your own and feel it. All the way Prashant bhai was worried about foggy (Fog), he was confirming the same by the drivers coming from the other side. We crossed several military cantonment areas. Tanks, guns, shells and excellent maintenance will give you Goosebumps. Few hours before reaching Bomdila, we then realized why it takes 2 days to reach Tawang. Steep roads and sharp turns are deadly and dangerous to drive in night. We reached Bomdila at 7 PM. Yes, it took 10 hours for mere 340Kms. Our hotel where we were staying was Tsepal Yangjum. Hotel staffs were very courteous. Room was spacious and neat. After getting freshened up, we went to roam the streets of Bomdila. It was almost freezing there. We ordered some food and decided to take rest as we had to leave for Tawang early in the morning.

Somewhere near Dirang

25th May 2016:

After having a heavy breakfast, we were set to leave for Tawang. The distance was about 180Kms, but we knew it will take is going to be way more than normal. We weren’t thinking about the time. Sit back and enjoy the view, these two things were in our mind.

We crossed a place called “Jaswant Garh” on the route. It is basically a war memorial, as per the data there, Martyr Jaswant Singh Rawat (Mahavir Chakra) fought a whole troop of Chinese army all alone at this place. The Braveheart fought for 72 hours continuously and killed 300 Chinese soldiers. The famous battle of Nuranang. Respect!!

At Jaswant Garh

A few hours later, we reached a huge gateway announcing "Welcome to Tawang". We thought we made it but there was still 2-3 hours of the journey left. The place where this gateway was situated goes by the name of “Sella Pass”. This is the entry point into the Tawang Valley. There is a small lake called "Paradise Lake", we saw the first glimpse of snow in the mountains. There is a small canteen situated which is run by an old lady. What a wonderful host she is. Every thing is on MRP, believe it or not. You are at 13700 feet above the sea level and you get almost all the things on MRP, such is the honesty of people of this region.

Gateway to Tawang Valley

Paradise Lake

Snow!!!

Halka Halka Swag :P

Must visit Canteen at Paradise Lake

Lots of turns and more turns later, we reached Tawang at around 4 PM in the evening. Hotel for the stay was “Tashi Gatsel", it is a decent hotel with spacious rooms and all the amenities including room heaters. We went for a stroll into the market of Tawang. Apparently, every district in Arunachal Pradesh has one day of the week as dry day. So, non-vegetarian food seemed out of scope, but staffs of the hotel arranged some for us. One of the coldest night I have spent in my life. It was -3 degrees Celsius in the month of May, can you imagine. Above that, I forgot to close the window of my room, so just think how unbearable was that for me.

Never mind, we finally completed our journey till Tawang. The journey after this and the destinations which we covered beyond Tawang and our return journey will be covered in the next blog. So, stay tuned…